I picked up the following from another applied biology e-list. I
sure that announcements like the following will become more
frequent. It perhaps represents the direction that further development
of Internet will take...especially in relation to the shift in
U.S. Gov't funding emphasis with respect to Internet and to the
national data super(computing) highway.
Steve nmodena at unity.ncsu.edu
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded by Gleason Sackman, InterNIC net-happenings moderator
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
---------- Text of forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 93 13:49:42 EDT
>From: Laurie Johnson <laurie at psi.com>
Subject: PSI/Continental Cablevision Plans to Deliver Internet Over Cable TV
PSI and Continental Cablevision
Announce Plans to Deliver Internet Over Cable TV
San Francisco, CA, August 24, 1993 -- Today at INTEROP 93,
Continental Cablevision, Inc. and Performance Systems International,
Inc. (PSI), Herndon, VA announced their intention to bring the vast
computer data services of the Internet to Continental's cable TV
customers.
"Our cable systems employ the highest quality fiber optic and
broadband network components and are being expanded to support
FDDI and Ethernet in our larger service areas," said David M. Fellows,
senior vice president for engineering and technology at Continental,
who led in developing the agreement with PSI. "Combining our
bandwidth and our systems' technical strength with PSI's expertise and
Internet market leadership, we will meet our customers growing needs
in the complex world of computer communications," he added.
The agreement provides several channels of cable TV bandwidth
dedicated to PSI's Internet customers in several regions served by
Continental. The initial system will be configured as a 100 Mbps
Metropolitan Area Network with customer connections available at 10
Mbps, connected to PSI's nationwide widearea network, PSINet, and
the global Internet. Follow on services will migrate to an ATM
backbone with customer access at Ethernet, FDDI and ATM speeds.
Services, to be marketed to both organizations and individuals, were
designed by Martin L. Schoffstall, PSI's vice president and chief
technical officer.
"A variety of technologies are now available or will soon be
announced which enable PSI to build a robust, high speed, ubiquitous
system serving many hardware and software platforms on cable",
Schoffstall said. "Our focus today is on 'standard' Internet access, but
will soon lead to advanced applications such as multimedia
conferencing and telecommuting."
Poised for Expansion
"The agreement between PSI and Continental was designed for
use with virtually any metropolitan or rural cable TV operator, and
would allow any cable TV company to join the Internet data
communications community", said William L. Schrader, president and
chief executive officer of PSI. "In addition to Continental, we have
already held discussions with other operators who are also very
interested. We expect in the near future to be announcing similar
agreements with other operators to bring the power of the Internet to
their customers."
"The convergence of the Internet, the National Information
Infrastructure and the massive bandwidth of America's cable TV
systems, places this approach at a high priority," Fellows said. "This
agreement adds critical new services to our extensive fiber optic system
and will provide cable operators with access to PSI's nationwide
distribution system."
Deployment Schedule
The initial cable TV-based Internet system will be deployed
during late 1993, with services to be introduced in early 1994.
Beginning in eastern Massachusetts, the system will be extended to
other Continental service areas in the east and is planned to be
completed by mid-year 1994. The system will consist of PSINet
equipment located within Continental head-ends and some customer
premises equipment.
PSI will be pursuing agreements, initially, with about fifty cable
operators and seeks to deploy its equipment throughout their facilities
during 1994. "We have been approached by other cable operators and
expect to talk to many more," said Schrader.
This service will allow households and businesses with a
computer and cable TV connection to access the entire suite of Internet
data services. These include access to the Library of Congress,
international bulletin boards, and unparalleled access to research
quality information and data bases. The Internet, the largest data
network in the world, now serves over 15 million people with
sophisticated services, and connects over 25 million for electronic
messages.
Continental, the nations' third-largest cable TV company,
operates cable TV systems serving 2.9 million customers in parts of
California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, New
Hampshire, New York, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota,
Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, and Virginia.
PSI is the nation's largest provider of commercial Internet access
and internetworking services for organizations and individual users of
electronic information. PSI's services range from electronic mail
products to turnkey integration of local area networks into the PSINet
widearea network system and the Internet. PSI operates the world's
largest Frame Relay network, using T3 trunks and ATM switching, and
delivering TCP/IP-based services to over 60 cities in the U.S., and about
3,500 organizations. PSI is a co-founder of the Commercial Internet
Exchange (CIX) Association.
####
All Brands, products and service names mentioned are trademarks or
registered service marks of their respective owners.
For further information, contact Kimberly Brown at PSI at 703.904.7187
(phone), 703.904.7195 (fax), or info at psi.com (e-mail); or Henry R.
James, Continental Cablevision, Inc. 617-742-9500 (phone); or Michael
Vernetti at Kaufman Public Relations at 202.333.0700 (phone),
202.337.0449 (fax), or vernetti at psilink.com (e-mail).
--
Stephen A. Modena
nmodena at unity.ncsu.edusamodena at csemail.cropsci.ncsu.edu